There are books that intersect our lives at the perfect time: written as though the author had read our diary and tapped into our secret thoughts. During the month of November, I stumbled across this book.
As writers, mindset matters because as we become working writers, daily showing up to the page, we come face to face with our own worst enemy. The critic within. All it takes is a sentence or two of self doubt, mixed with a sprinkle of overwhelm at the task at hand, to become paralyzed and find ourselves sucked into a black hole of procrastination and unconscious self-sabotage.
As I prepare for a new year (my birthday was Wednesday) of life, Tim Grahl’s book Running Down a Dream: Your Road Map to Winning Creative Battles was the perfect kick in the pants and shot of courage to do just that. This book is a look into the soul of a writer as he traverses the creative dessert and battles towards the meaning and freedom he craves. It is a deeply personal field guide for writers and creatives. Tim unflinchingly bares the naked truth behind all creations and shares the practical to-do list to take you from here to there.
His strategies for seeing where your time is going, and setting up systems to save time are the best I’ve read. They may not be new, but his descriptions of why they are important and his step by step overview of how to begin removes every excuse of not having enough time.
His process is gutsy and made me uncomfortable, but I will never look at time in the same way.
There is always time.
What are you reading?